Timberwolves vice president Ted Johnson says one of the goals of the renovation of Target Center is to improve the game experience for a broad array of fans. “We want to provide amenities not just for the fans in the higher-priced seats but also to add something for fans in the upper deck,” he said. (Staff photo: Bill Klotz)

Target Center makeover is ambitious

Later this year, the city of Minneapolis and the Minnesota Timberwolves will begin a $100 million reconstruction of Target Center in downtown Minneapolis – a project that will be one of the largest recent renovations of a National Basketball Association arena.

City and team officials characterize the project as a cost-effective way to bring the 23-year old arena up to modern standards, and extend its life for another 17 to 18 years, at about half the cost of building a new one.

“It’s been a more common path to use an arena for 20 years then tear it down and build a new one,” said Timberwolves Vice President Ted Johnson. “The basics are there; we simply need to update.”

“That’s the beauty of doing a renovation; we’re taking advantage of the good ‘bone structure’ that’s already there,” said City Council President Barbara Johnson. “That will allow us to save lots of money while bringing the arena up to current standards.”

In 2013, Stadium Journey magazine ranked Target Center 28th in quality of “fan experience,” among the league’s 30 arenas, citing a lack of modern amenities.

Slated for completion in late 2016, the renovation project will include a redesigned, more “transparent” exterior, improved access and crowd-flow, more seating capacity, technology upgrades and new spectator options such as suites and club seating, according to the Wolves.

Based on its $100 million price tag, the Target Center project will be one of the most extensive, NBA arena renovations in recent years. Other recent renovations have included U.S. Airways Center in Phoenix ($10 million), New Orleans Arena ($50 million), Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City ($104 million), Energy Solutions Arena in Salt Lake City ($15 million). In 1997, Oakland-Alameda County Arena, now Oracle Arena, completed a $121 million upgrade.

Suites yield to other concepts

Ted Johnson cites the renovation in Phoenix as example of a well-executed upgrade. Along with necessary infrastructure upgrades, the Phoenix Suns project installed new seating and replaced some luxury seats with less-expensive, theater-type boxes where patrons still have access to upscale buffet and bar areas.

In the post-recession era, a number of NBA teams have had more trouble selling their top-priced suites due to reduced corporate spending, and they have responded by offering more affordable options. Although Ted Johnson didn’t cite that as a factor in Minneapolis, the Wolves will be pursuing a similar strategy of adding club space.

“We’re the only NBA arena that doesn’t have clubs for different (ticket price) levels of patrons. We want to provide amenities not just for the fans in the higher-priced seats but also to add something for fans in the upper deck,” he said. “We’ve also talked about opening an overlook bar or zone on one end.”

The team will be reconfiguring its entire suite level and decide how many of its 68 suites will remain or be replaced with lower-priced alternatives. “In recent years a number of additional seating ‘products’ have come online – theater box seats, loge seating, so we have some new options to look at,” Ted Johnson said.

Theater boxes group four to six seats together, often with a buffet table to provide a semi-private dinner or snacks. Loge or other seating might include food and beverage credits, valet parking or other perks.

One of the least noticeable (to fans) upgrades may be one of the most essential to the facility’s bottom line. Target Center now has only a single, drive-through loading dock for unloading the semi trucks that arrive with traveling shows. Plans call for adding multiple loading docks to better accommodate major events, Ted Johnson said.

Exterior makeover

To facilitate better pedestrian-flow, the Wolves also want to relocate the main entrance and lobby from the middle of the block to the corner of First Avenue and Sixth Street, Ted Johnson said.

The budget also provides $13.5 million for improving the outside building shell. Ted Johnson said the most noticeable change will be significantly more glass, replacing walls that gave the center a fortress-like appearance, from some angles. “Right now, it’s a big pillbox, but we want to add transparency.”

Opening up the building with more glass makes sense for another reason, said Tom Fisher, dean of the University of Minnesota’s College of Design. “We are in the Silicon Valley of glass. Some of the biggest window and glass companies are here, so why not show off what Minnesota can do well, with big, curtain walls?”

Sustainability is another consideration. During the recent demolition of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, about 80 percent of the debris – including concrete, steel, plastics and other materials – was recycled. Will that be the case with the Target Center renovation project?

It’s too early to give a definitive answer, Ted Johnson said. “We don’t have an understanding yet of how much debris there will be. But our project will be very different from the Metrodome, where tens of thousands of cubic yards of concrete was removed. That will have to be figured out, well down the road, maybe five to six months after we hire a construction manager.”

The city council “will insist on sustainable best practices in the renovation, although we haven’t gotten into those details yet,” Barbara Johnson said. That would likely include provisions for recycling the material that is removed, and lighting, mechanical and plumbing infrastructure improvements that will make the new version of Target Center much more energy efficient, she said.

One sustainability-related decision city and team officials have made, Ted Johnson said, is that they plan to seek the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for the renovated Target Center.